We are all waiting for the release of Intel’s Alder Lake series of processors and real-world results on its performance. Sadly lately it came to our attention that some games might have issues with the processor.
Now before you go on the bandwagon on bashing Intel itself take note that it is not Intel’s fault at all. The issue that arises is mostly due to DRM software and how it works. As you might know or not, Alder Lake has two sets of cores, standard performance cores, and power cores, and with Intel’s Thread Director on-chip right cores will be used for the right tasks, and here lies the issue.
DRM software might detect Thread Director as something suspicious and malicious, and then cut access to the game because of this. Intel, of course, has reached DRM manufacturers and places documentation about how software should be developed with this hybrid technology in mind.
Of course, newer games will be updated if needed and everything will work fine, also games on GOG will work fine because of GOG’s policy of no DRM store but some older ones might be left in limbo. They could work fine but DRM might be triggered and prevent them from loading, usually, game developer itself removes DRM protection after some time but that is not really always the case and there is a chance that some games might simply just not work on Alder Lake CPU only because of DRM protection.
Conclusion
I will admit that I have not been a great fan of DRM in general, I understand that game developer want to protect themselves from piracy but how it looks they were not really successful with it. Even today single-player games get pirated on the day they are released and legally bought ones always make trouble for people that actually paid for them.
I remember times when DRM was awful and you could install a game a limited number of times, luckily this was removed but it seems that many old habits still remain sadly and DRM is present even today in various forms. GOG is proof that people will buy DRM-free games and that they will support this kind of model. Maybe it is time to forget about fighting against piracy, you will not make it go away and people who do not want to buy games will not buy them, on other hand many users that do buy games, if they cannot use them they will rest to pirated version since that one will work.
It is sad to see that pirated software can work better than a legal one and offer a more pleasant experience.
Runtime Error r6034 is one of the most commonly occurring errors. This error usually arises in Windows Vista and Windows 7.
The message that appears to the user states ‘An application has made an attempt to load C runtime library incorrectly, please contact the support team for more information’.
As the message suggests, this problematic error occurs simply because an application attempts to load the C runtime library without a manifest.
Solution
Error Causes
Runtime Error r6034 occurs when the system compiler fails to compile the working application. While this is the primary reason, there are some other conditions that trigger Runtime Error r6034 which are outlined below.
Existence of viruses and malware in the system.
Corrupt or missing system files.
Power outages.
Hardware problems.
Hardware driver problems.
There are several other reasons that may trigger Runtime Error r6034 that are beyond the scope of this article. Regardless of what triggers this error, it is crucial to ensure that it is fixed as soon as possible.
Further Information and Manual Repair
There are several ways to deal with Runtime Error r6034. However, one of the most effective ways is listed below as follows.
When this error occurs, restart your computer. Make sure you press F8 before the windows logo is displayed.
Choose safe mode and press enter.
Go to the ‘Start’ button and type ‘msconfig’ in the search box. Press enter.
The MSConfig program will now open.
Choose ‘Start up’ in the general tab and then click on the ‘Load Start Up’ item.
Click on the ‘Services’ tab. Now click ‘Hide all Microsoft Services’ and then choose ‘Disable All’.
Close the system configuration window.
Restart the computer.
After restarting your computer, you will notice that the Runtime Error r6034 has been removed. If this approach fails to deliver the desired results, it is advised to follow the steps listed below.
Go to the start button. In the search box, type ‘System Restore’.
The system restore window will open. Make sure any process or application that’s open is now closed.
In the System Restore window, if a calendar list appears, it means the restore point is open. Now choose the point from where the error appeared and click Next.
This process may take some time. Your system will restart automatically and the Runtime Error r6034 will disappear.
Error code 652 is a runtime error. It hampers you from accessing and running your program on your system. If not resolved, it can also lead to program corruption.
Solution
Error Causes
Runtime Error 652 can occur due to several causes. These include:
Conflict of color depth within icons, the desktop, or a particular application in the Visual Basic environment. This happens when the Image
List control consists of more colors than the depth of what Windows can support.
Other causes include:
Malicious software and malware attack
Conflict with Terminate
Invalid or corrupt registry
Further Information and Manual Repair
If you are not a computer programmer and don’t have any sound technical expertise, then you might think of hiring a professional to resolve the error on your PC. But this can be costly as you may have to pay hundreds of dollars to the technician.
However, an alternative way to resolve the error code 652 is to download the Total System Care. This PC repair tool is integrated with an intuitive registry cleaner and a powerful anti-virus. It is safe, efficient, user-friendly, and available for free.
Restoro is a multi-functional error tool and a one-stop solution to resolve practically all kinds of PC-related problems. By running this repair tool, you can fix runtime error code 652 on your system in seconds.
Restoro
What makes Restoro a hot favorite among PC users is that it is simple and easy to use.
To operate this PC fixer, you don’t need to have the sound technical knowledge or be adept at computer programming. It can be used by all levels of PC users including beginners and intermediates.
It has a neat and clean layout with simple instructions and navigation making it easy for users to resolve even the mightiest errors in just a few clicks.
Restoro features
Whether the underlying reason for the error code 652 is malicious software or registry corruption, Restoro takes care of all. Registry corruption occurs due to unnecessary files and data overload in the hard disk. This includes junk files, internet history, invalid registry entries, and bad registry keys.
The registry cleaner embedded in Restoro intuitively detects and scans all registry issues.
It wipes and clears the hard disk from all the unnecessary and obsolete files and thus cleans up your disk space. It repairs the corrupt registry and also boosts your PC’s performance.
Thus it not only repairs the error code 652 but also resolves system slowdown issues by optimizing your system’s speed.
With the help of its in-built anti-virus, it removes all the malicious software on your system that could be triggering the error code 652.
Data security threats such as malicious software are detected and scanned and listed under the privacy error utility.
It is compatible with all Windows versions including both the latest and old versions. You can run it to scan error code 652 on any Windows version you have installed on your computer.
Restoro for error Code 652
Furthermore, as mentioned above Error Code 652 is safe to use. It is bug-free and besides, it offers users outstanding data safety. It has a backup file feature that helps you save and create backup copies of all the data you have on your system. This is carried for safety purposes.
It enables users to retrieve and recover data in case the data and files are lost during the repair thus sparing you from a big loss.
The error code 652 may be critical but it can be resolved in seconds with Restoro. Here’s how:
To get started click here to download and install Restoro on your system
Once installed, run it to scan for errors. It will take only a few seconds to scan your entire PC.
Then simply create a backup and click on repair to resolve and resume your desired program.
For best results, it is advised to run Restoro on the computer often. This will help you detect PC errors and repair them timely. It will help you ensure proper PC maintenance, health, and performance.
New Apple's upscaling technology called MetalFX will place iOS and macOS devices back into the gaming world. Apple had great games back in the old days and some all-time hits like the prince of Persia have been made first for apple but along the way, it just lost it.
Same as NVIDIA's DLSS and Intel's XeSS systems, Apple MetalFX also uses AI algorithms to upscale the resolution of output game frames. So, for example, the GPU inside your MAC might render the game at 1080p, but through MetalFX and AI upscaling it will look like a 4K image but have a good frame rate since it is rendered in base resolution.
The ability to make AI strike a good balance between performance and image quality is a key to technology in today's modern gaming and having this technology will help developers a ton to be able to achieve great results on Apple hardware.
The First MetalFX Games
So far three official games that will use this technology and be released natively for Appl hardware are Resident Evil 8 Village, GRID legends, and No Man's Sky. All three games have been confirmed and Resident Evil 8 Village is already sent for review people are impressed since the game can run smoothly on all Apple devices, even ones with an M1 CPU.
Apple is back into gaming
When you say Apple gaming is probably the last thing that comes to your mind but truth be told Apple makes more money from games than Microsoft, Nintendo and Sony combined. Also, Apple itself was a big player once regarding computer games as well, Myst and Prince of Persia are games that were made and have been released for Apple first. Bungie was also founded by Apple developers and Halo was originally announced as a Mac game.
Apple has been trying and pushing gaming on its platform since it kind of died down. Today all Sony, Nintendo, and Microsoft controllers work without any issues with all Apple products. Apple also has its own gaming subscription service, Apple Arcade, and its Apple TV is packed with GPU that can rival Xbox ones.
MetalFX API ties and brings it all together, it is designed to get the most performance from the hardware by minimizing overhead.
Now, computers and laptops do not hold any large numbers if we look at the user base, and that could deter developers but if we look at iPad and iPhone things are different there, much different. How same CPU power these devices and how MetalFX is available across all products it is clear that there is a market for games there. No Man's Sky is coming to iPad using these technologies and bringing full computer experience to tablets.
Windows updates have become a regular occurrence in our digital lives. They are frequent and have become quite necessary. Most of the time they bring us quality content like fixed security, resolved bugs, and even new features but from time to time update itself can be not downloaded properly or it can have some issues when installing. Windows Update Error 0x800F0825 is one of these update errors that will be reported seemingly after applying the update.
Altho annoying error it is nothing system breaking and can be easily resolved.
Hello and welcome everyone, today we will provide you with solutions on how to resolve error 0x800F0825 when trying to complete a Windows update.
Run Windows troubleshooter
Built-in Windows troubleshooter can help a lot in resolving these issues and we will try it as a first solution because of its simplicity and ease of use.
Click on START
Click on settings
Navigate to Update & Security > Troubleshoot > Additional Troubleshooter > Windows Update
Click on Run the troubleshooter
Follow onscreen instructions and let the troubleshooter try to solve the issue
Clear contents of SoftwareDistribution & Catroot2 folders
Altho SoftwareDistribution and Catroot2 folders are essential for the update process it can happen that badly downloaded updates or similar corruption can be stored there and thus producing this error.
Open file explorer and locate these two folders, go inside and delete content inside them
Try updating again to see if corruption inside folders was the issue.
Update manually
If the previous two solutions have not produced a result and the error is still present then go to the official Microsoft Update Catalog and download the update manually
The catalog is here.
Search for updates from the Windows Update Catalog In the Search box, type your search terms. You can carry out a full-text search, using a keyword, KB article, MSRC bulletin, driver manufacturer, driver model, driver version, product, and a classification. Select the appropriate version of Windows. Search or click on Advanced Search if you want to refine your search. A list will be displayed. Select the updates that you want to download. Click Add for each selection to add it to the download basket.
Download the updates. You may be asked to install an Active-X download control to be able to download files from this site
Double-click on the downloaded updates to install them
Administrators can download updates from the Microsoft Download Center or the Windows Update Catalog to deploy to multiple computersIf you are running Windows Server Update Services (WSUS) 3.0, System Center Essentials (SCE), or System Center Configuration Manager (SCCM) you can import updates directly into these applications. Security updates, critical updates, service packs, update rollups, definition updates, and critical drivers can be configured to synchronize with your server automatically. You can still import these updates into your application by using Microsoft Update Catalog; however, depending on how you configure WSUS, SCE, and SCCM, you may not need to import the updates.
Disable system protection
In some rare cases, antivirus or firewall could interfere with both downloads and execution of certain files. If each previous solution failed disable temporarily your security software and try executing the update again.
If you find that the scroll bar in your Google Chrome browser is missing all of a sudden, and it becomes difficult for you to scroll down the web page and see its content, worry not for this post will guide you on what you can do to resolve this problem.
Usually, when the mouse cursor stays hidden in the corner and only appears when you point it to the edge of the screen. However, there are instances when it won’t appear which makes navigating the web page you are visiting quite impossible. So if you encounter this kind of strange behavior on your Google Chrome browser, there are several suggestions you can check out to resolve it. In most cases, updating the browser resolves the problem, but if it does not, you can try restoring the browser’s settings to their default state by resetting Chrome or you could also disable hardware acceleration or disable the overlay scrollbars flag. For more information, follow each one of the options provided below.
Option 1 – Reset Google Chrome
Before you proceed, make sure that the Chrome browser is not running anywhere in the background via Task Manager. Once you’ve made sure that it’s no longer running, refer to these steps:
Tap the Win + R keys to open the Run dialog box.
Then type “%USERPROFILE%AppDataLocalGoogleChromeUser Data” in the field and tap Enter to open this location.
From there, look for the Default folder and then tap the Shift + Delete button and if a confirmation prompt appears, click on Yes.
After deleting the Default folder, open Google Chrome and click on the three vertical dots icon located in the top-right corner to open the menu.
Next, click on Settings and scroll down and then click on Advanced to open the Advanced Settings.
Then scroll down until you see the “Reset and clean up” section and click the “Restore Settings to their original defaults” option.
After that, you will see a confirmation box and from there, click on the Reset settings button to reset your Google Chrome browser.
Option 2 – Try to disable the Hardware Acceleration
For better performance, Google Chrome uses the Hardware Acceleration by default. Unfortunately, there are just some cases when your hardware, GPU to be specific, might not be able to cope with the requirements, resulting in the black screen issue. And if this is your case, you should try to disable the hardware acceleration from your Google Chrome browser settings panel. To do so, follow the steps below.
Open the Google Chrome settings page.
Click on the Advanced button to get more options.
Look for the option called “Use hardware acceleration when available” and then disable it by toggling the button to the left.
After that, check if the screen flickering issue in Chrome is fixed.
Option 3 – Try to disable “Smooth Scrolling” in Chrome
Disabling “Smooth Scrolling” in Chrome might also help you fix the issue. To do so, follow these steps:
Open Chrome and type “chrome://flags” and hit Enter.
Next, look for a flag named “Smooth Scrolling”. You can scroll down until you find it or search it in the Search Flag bar. Note that Smooth Scrolling is enabled by default in the newer versions of Chrome.
After that, select the drop-down menu and select Disabled.
Windows 10 and Windows 11 have automatic dynamic screen brightness depending on the surrounding light inside the room. Please take note that this option is available only on devices with build-in screens like laptops, tablets, and all in one desktop PC. If you are connected with your PC via an external monitor you will not have these settings available and probably feature is not even working.
Some computers will also allow automatic brightness changes also on what is displayed on the screen. This option is meant to save battery life on devices. Microsoft calls this automatic brightness feature Content adaptive brightness control. In order to change this setting, we will go to settings inside Windows.
Disabling automatic brightness inside Windows
Open Settings inside Windows, in Windows 11 press WINDOWS + I to open settings, then click on the system in the sidebar and then go to Display. Click on the small arrow beside the Brightness slider in order to expand a small menu and then uncheck Help improve battery by optimizing the content show and brightness. If you see Change brightness automatically when lighting changes, uncheck that as well. Close the settings and you are good to go, now brightness will always be as set in settings.
Inside Windows 10, go to Settings and then go to System and then in Display under the Brightness and Color section look below and locate the box that says Automatically adjust contrast based on the displayed content to help improve battery and uncheck it, if the box below with text Change brightness automatically when lighting changes exists, uncheck it as well. Close settings and you are done.
It has been reported that there are systems out there with Windows 11 operating systems that do not use the whole RAM memory installed in the system. If by any chance you are one of the unfortunate users that has encountered this issue, fear not, we have a solution for you.
Run the Windows Memory Diagnostic tool
Press ⊞ WINDOWS + S to open the search menu
Type in Windows Memory Diagnostic tool
Click on the found app
Select Restart now and check for problems
Wait for the tool to finish
Memory Diagnostic tool is a built-in tool in Windows, it was designed to automatically find and repair memory issues and should be your first step toward resolving this issue.
Check page file
Press ⊞ WINDOWS + S to open the search menu
Type in View advanced system settings
Click on the search result
Click on settings under performance
Click on the Advanced tab
Click on Change under Virtual memory
Uncheck the box for Automatically manage paging file size for all drives
Then select the drive and check the No paging file option
Click on Set
Repeat for all drives on the system
Reboot the system for changes to take effect
If after reboot system still does not see and use whole available RAM, repeat this process and turn back ON paging. After you are done move to the next solution.
Modify usable RAM
Press ⊞ WINDOWS + S to open the search menu
Type in System configuration
Click on the search result
Go to the Boot tab and click on Advanced options
Check the box for Maximum memory
Enter the installed RAM on your system in the field box and click on OK
Confirm once again on the OK and close the System configuration window
Restart the system
If the provided solution has not worked, uncheck the Maximum memory checkbox and save the changes. Move to the next solution.
Change and modify the registry
Press ⊞ WINDOWS + R to open the run menu
Type in Regedit and press the OK button or hit ENTER
Click on YES if prompted by UAC
Locate the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Memory
On the right side find and double click on the ClearPageFileAtShutdownDWORD
Enter 1 under Value data and click on OK to save the changes
Close the registry and reboot the system
Enable memory remapping inside BIOS
In order to do this fix, you will need to enter BIOS on your system. How entering BIOS is different from system to system depending on your manufacturer, especially if it is a laptop this step you will have to do alone. Go to your motherboard manufacturer or laptop manufacturer and see how to enter BIOS.
Enter BIOS (80% of the time this can be done by pressing DEL or F12 while the system is turned ON)
Locate System Agent Configuration option
Select Memory Remap Feature and Enable it
Your BIOS might be different from ours and you might not have the System Agent Configuration option, in this case, go through the setting and try to locate Memory Remap Feature. If this feature is missing as well move to the next step.
Rearrange RAM modules on the motherboard
Sometimes RAM memory cannot be slotted properly or just purely switching them in slots can solve the issue. Take RAM out, clean memory slots, clean motherboard connectors for them, and place them back in a different order.
If by any chance none of the methods worked, then the issue might be in the hardware itself, either memory banks themselves, motherboard, power supply, etc. If this is sadly the case, you will have to locate the issue and replace the faulty part.
If you are not technical enough for this adventure, the best solution is to take a PC to a computer repair shop.
One of the cool and interesting features in Windows is the Screensaver which allows users to display animation or change the wallpaper automatically when the computer is not being used. This feature can also time out and lock your computer when it remains idle for quite some time. However, if you notice that the screensaver of your computer turns on a lot earlier, then you’ve come to the right place as this post will guide you on how you can change the timeout settings of the screensaver of your Windows 10 computer.
Usually, the screensaver in Windows 10 is turned off by default, however, if some other user has turned it on or if you have turned it on, you can actually change the timeout settings of the screensaver using several methods. You can do it through the Personalization settings, Registry Editor, as well as the Group Policy Editor.
Before you proceed with the instructions provided below, make sure that you create a System Restore point first. Once done, follow each one of the suggestions carefully to successfully change the Screensaver timeout settings in Windows 10.
Option 1 – Modify the timeout settings of Screensaver via Personalization settings
Open the Start menu and type “screen saver” in the field.
On the search results that appear, click on the “Change Screen Saver” option.
From there, you have the option to change the screen saver type, preview, open settings, change the wait time, as well as choose to display lock screen on your resume.
Now to change the timeout settings of your screensaver, you have to increase the wait time from 1 to 15 or anything that works for you.
Once done, click OK and exit to save the changes made.
Option 2 – Try to change the screensaver time via Registry Editor
The next option you can try to change the timeout settings in the screensaver is using the Registry Editor. To get started, follow these steps:
Tap the Win + R keys to launch the Run utility and type “regedit” in the field and hit Enter to open the Registry Editor.
Next, navigate to this registry path: ComputerHKEY_CURRENT_USERSoftwarePoliciesMicrosoftWindows
From there, right-click on Windows located in the right pane and select New > Key.
Name the key as “Control Panel” and right-click on it and select New > Key and then name it as “Desktop”.
Once done, click on the newly created Desktop key to highlight it.
After that, right-click on any empty space in the right pane and select New > String Value and then type “ScreenSaveTimeOut” and hit Enter to save it.
Now right-click on ScreenSaveTimeOut and select Modify and then set its value data in seconds.
Click on OK and exit the Registry Editor to save the changes made.
Option 3 – Change Screensaver timeout settings via Group Policy Editor
Tap the Win + R keys to open the Run dialog box and type “gpedit.msc” in the field and hit Enter to open the Group Policy Editor.
Next, navigate to User Configuration > Administrative Templates > Control Panel > Personalization.
Then look for a policy setting named “Screen saver timeout” and double click on it and then click on the Enabled option to enable it.
Add the screen timeout in seconds and click on the Apply and OK buttons to save the changes.
Restart your computer.
Note: If you want to disable the screensaver feature in your computer, you can always do so by disabling a policy setting named “Enable Screen Saver”.
One of the biggest annoyances in Windows 10 is that it’s upgrading from one version to another. Although these upgrades are necessary to fix some bugs or improve user experience, some of them actually bring bugs into the computers instead. And in one of the recent Windows 10 updates, a lot of issues were found especially for users who use Remote Desktop on a daily basis. The error stacks up as Windows 10 Remote Desktop Protocol client is not working or won’t connect and can’t find the computer HOSTNAME generally. Based on the reports by users who experienced this issue, there are two cases around it:
Users who try to reach a specific website or folder on the network
Some users encounter this error when they try to run the Network Troubleshooter. Even when they add the server name inside it, it still won’t identify the problem, and unpredictably, the driver seems to appear and disappear every now and then. And even after connecting, the network commands don’t work at all. This is really troublesome for users who have lots of PCs and all the other systems do not appear on the network.
Remote Desktop isn’t able to find the computer HOSTNAME
Some other users reported that the error appeared when they use the classic remote desktop software. It keeps on failing and throwing the error message, “Remote Desktop can’t find the computer “HOSTNAME”. If this is the same scenario you are having, it means that “HOSTNAME” does not belong to the specified network. So you need to verify the computer name and domain where you are trying to connect to. There are times when it used to work after some users tried connecting to the domain a couple of times. However, when users try to use the UWP version of Remote Desktop, it seems to connect most of the time.
This kind of problem is definitely a DNS issue. It could be that there are two different records on the DNS server which is why it connects and other times it doesn’t. When it is able to resolve the correct address, the drives connect to the PC however, after a couple of minutes, they will suddenly go missing. Using “nslookup” for the hostname, multiple times, you can check this and see if you’ll get identical results all the time.
If you’ve determined that the drives disappear each time, you may have to change the DNS server or ask your admin to resolve the problem for you.
Alternatively, you can also check out another option that has worked for a lot of users. This second option is disabling the IPv6 on the network adapter. In case you don’t know, Windows 10 prefers IPv6 over IPv4 so if you now have issues using IPv6 to connect to the servers, you can change your computer’s settings so that it’ll only use IPv4 instead of IPv6. To do so, follow these instructions:
Open Settings > Network and Internet > Ethernet > Change Adapter options.
From there, right-click on the adapter for where you want to disable it and then select Properties.
Next, look for the checkbox labeled, “Internet Protocol Version 6 (TCP/IPv6)” then uncheck it.
Now click on OK and restart your PC to save the changes made.
Nvidia announced the third generation of GeForce RTX GPUs called Ada Lovelace. New technology is bringing 76 billion transistors with 18,000 CUDA cores along with new gen ray tracing cores and improved Tensor cores as well. The new lineup also comes with DLSS 3 which is vastly improved from its previous version pushing a 4 times increase in frame rates over native rendering.
RTX 4090, a better model of GPU will come with 16,384 CUDA cores and a boost clock speed of 2.52 GHz. Also, it is packed with stunning 24 GB of GDDR6V VRAM. In Nvidia's words, its performance is twice faster than the 3090 Ti in games like Flight simulator, three times faster on Portal RTX, and four times faster on RacerX.
RTX 4080 comes in two modes, one with 12GB VRAM and a stronger one with 16GB VRAM but differences do not end here. The lower model is packing 7,680 CUDA cores while the stronger one is going to 9,728 CUDA cores. We will wait to see how will these cores count impact real-world performance in games.
As for prices, the flagship model RTX 4090 will be $1,600 USD and it will hit the market on October 12th. RTX 4080 12GB model will be $900 USD and the model with 16GB VRAM will go up to $1,200 USD. This, of course, is the price for Founders Edition cards, OEM cards from third parties like ASUS, MSI, Gigatech, etc will cost more.